I began my teaching career as an art enrichment teacher for Bowman School in Palo Alto, CA. For thirteen years, I provided Montessori art classes that suspended a bridge between regular classroom curriculum and creative expression. As a Montessori educator, I learned the importance of intrinsic motivation, of incorporating global curriculum, and to follow the child.
Within a typical school year, I tend to incorporate as wide an array of projects as possible. With me, students have learned fine art principles such as the elements of art and how to display and critique work. I have experience teaching acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, mixed media, woodworking, sewing, beading, ceramics, sculpture, bookbinding, paper mache, silk screening, and print-making. We have taken apart dead Crayola markers to make watercolor paints, then constructed jump ropes out of the caps. We have constructed school-wide art displays, incorporating art from five to fourteen year-olds. We have traveled to San Francisco to meet muralists and painted alongside them. At times, we have gotten messy (but really, that’s the best part!).
In addition to art, I have ten years of experience teaching prop and set design. I was able to use my woodworking skills to construct large set pieces and backdrops and enjoyed guiding the students in how to paint them for each show. I’ve held prop building workshops, created costumes, and taught students how to do stage and theatrical makeup.
I first began my journey in art at Santa Clara University where I obtained a BA in Studio Art/Art History. I have attended two years of the Broadway Teachers Workshop in New York City as well as two years of the California Art Education Association Conference. I am a trained Wilderness First Responder and am CPR/EPI Certified as of May 2023.
As for my personal life, my interests are eclectic. For fun, I have taken classes in art therapy, bookbinding, furniture building, felting, butchering, insect-pinning, and taxidermy. I practice aikido and have completed the AIDS LifeCycle (a bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles) twice. I love being outdoors and camping, making over-the-top costumes, and cooking for the people I love.